Crime is a problem which to one degree or another has always been part of human society. It is believed that certainty in arrest, conviction and punishment is a significant deterrent to crime. In U.S. courts, convictions for crimes are based on evidence. It is highly desirable that any evidence presented be reliable. Reliable evidence not only makes it more likely that a particular person accused of a crime will in fact be convicted of a criminal offense, reliable evidence makes it more likely that the accused is in fact the person who actually committed a particular offense.
A variety of visual markers for evidence viewed at a crime scene are well known. Such evidence markers are typically positioned adjacent to an item of evidence at the scene (such as a stain, a spot, an article, a portion of a corpus delicti or the like), and the marker photographed with the item of evidence to provide a memorial of the evidence. The memorial can then be relied upon during trial as an aid in reliably establishing one element or another of the criminal offense which was committed. Evidence markers often bear visual indicia on them which permit the item of evidence to be characterized by one or more pertinent quantities, for example, its height and width.
Prior evidence markers have been subject to certain drawbacks during use. Evidence markers are known which are generally flat in physical configuration, for example, a simple ruler. Unfortunately, the item of evidence under consideration may not be similarly flat. In such a case it may possible to challenge at trial the admission of a photograph showing the item of evidence and the marker. The challenge would be made on the basis that changes in perspective, as a result of the angle from which the photograph was taken, cause the photograph to fail to represent the item of evidence accurately. Specifically, camera angle may shorten or lengthen perspective and make the item of evidence appear unduly large or small with respect to the marker.
An evidence marker such as the ABFO No. 2 Scale (shown in FIG. 1 and available as Catalog No. 6-3875 from Lightning Powder Co., Inc., 1230 Hoyt St., SE, Salem, Oreg. 97302) may obviate this drawback to some degree when an item of evidence lies on a flat surface. The relative size of the two arms of the marker, along with testimony that the evidence and marker lay on the same flat surface when photographed, could conclusively establish the angle from which the photograph was taken and thus establish the relation of the marker to the item of evidence. Unfortunately, this cannot be done when the evidence marker and the item of evidence do not lie in the same plane, or when the item of evidence or surface it lies on is not flat. An inability to conclusively establish the size or another characteristic of the item of evidence may permit a successful objection to its introduction at trial, or worse yet, permit a trial verdict to be overturned on appeal.
A partial but incomplete solution was provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,616 (Rogers, Aug. 4, 1998) and No. 5,915,852 (Rogers, Jun. 29, 1999). The evidence marker disclosed in these patents included a pair of upstanding panels connected to form a free-standing unit, as well as a base panel extending from the lower edge of one of the upstanding panels. The base panel was imprinted with reference indicia such as suitable scales and a photographic target.
While useful for its intended purpose, the evidence marker of these patents failed to fully address the problems mentioned above. For example, the indicia on the marker were provided in only a single plane, that of the base panel. Moreover, the bulk of the marker was several times the size of the scale markings, such that the space needed to store the marker was appreciable, even if plural markers could be stacked on one another.
At page 5 of the June, 1997, issue of “The Daily Hound,” a newsletter published by the Lynn Peavey Company, Lenexa, Kans., the instant applicant disclosed a preliminary attempt to display two forensic scales (such as the ABFO No. 2 Scale mentioned above) in a three-dimensional arrangement, much like the shape of a child's jack. The device included a central element connecting the forensic scales, composed of three cocktail straws. Unfortunately, the frailty of this preliminary attempt made it subject to its own practical drawbacks. In the “Proceedings” of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (Annual Meeting, 1999, the instant applicant described a modification of such a device, in particular, a guide permitting the perpendicular placement of two ABFO No. 2 Scales. The guide was described as similar to a child's jack with an additional “leg.” The legs not involved in the stabilization of the scales provided overall support to the device.
It would be highly advantageous to have a device for assisting in memorializing and quantitatively characterizing visible evidence, for example, evidence present at a crime scene, which displayed two or more scale markings or other indicia at a known angle but in different planes, and which could be viewed at the same time, such as to establish a unique photographic angle or direction of view. Knowledge of the lens and film size employed could then be used to establish a specific camera-to-subject distance for evidence which has been photographed. It would also be highly advantageous to have such a device which displayed two or more scale markings or other indicia at a known angle but in different planes, such that the device could be positioned with respect to a non-planar item of evidence so that part of the item of evidence overlapped one scale or another, reliably establishing the size of the item of evidence. The photographic evidence obtained would not be subject to the kinds of challenges which had been successfully raised against photographs using other evidence markers. Finally, it would be highly advantageous to have such a device which was simple and relatively inexpensive in construction, which maintained its scale markings or other visible indicia in a rigid display relationship, yet could be collapsed to a size smaller than that existing while such scale markings or other visible indicia were displayed.